Broward schools fall behind in digital education

July 12, 2013|By Karen Yi, Sun Sentinel

Students in Broward County's public schools may be graduating without the digital know-how they need to succeed in college and the workforce.

While the state is demanding a major technology overhaul, Broward is lagging far behind. By 2014, Florida's online testing will require one computer with a specific processing speed for every two students. But Broward has one such computer for every eight students.

"How can we expect our students to be globally competitive when we're sitting them in desks and putting one textbook in their hands?" asked Marie Wright, director of core curriculum for the school district. "Our schools, unfortunately, still look very much like they did in the 70s."

District officials blame a lack of money to get the new equipment. They worry their students will fall behind as neighboring counties like Miami-Dade begin a $63 million initiative to pair each student with a digital device. In Palm Beach, there's one computer for every three students.

"We need to be able to offer students the same level as you would get in other public school systems," said School Board chairwoman Laurie Rich Levinson.

Wright said she's already seeing the consequences.

"Students are becoming much more disengaged in schools," she said. "They're consuming knowledge outside the school day very differently than they are in school. … We're not leveraging that in our classrooms because we don't have the devices."

And the workplace is increasingly demanding digital skills because "technology is transforming all industries and occupations," said Mason Jackson, president and CEO of WorkForce One Employment Solutions in Broward.

Some colleges say incoming freshmen often don't apply critical thinking skills to software programs, and that hinders their ability to apply it in real life.

Tony Parziale, chief information officer for Palm Beach State College, said students need to be comfortable with technology wherever they go.

But without sufficient hardware, most teachers can't push digital learning in ways that change the traditional classroom.

A quarter of the state's schools can't meet the mandated ratio of computers to students. Broward said it needs $59 million in new technology, but can only afford $16 million.

Not all the district's schools have the same computer-student ratios. Some have found community partners or convinced parent groups to raise money for additional technology. And schools that serve predominantly low-income students can use federally allotted Title 1 funds to buy computers.

Some teachers are finding solutions on their own.

Robert DeSabatin teaches culinary arts at Coral Glades High in Coral Springs and incorporates computers once or twice a month by requesting a computer bank that classrooms share. He then teaches students the software that restaurant owners use to price out ingredients.

"If they're going into the job market, they have to have at least some familiarization with that," he said.

Next year, middle schools that offer career programs will teach Adobe and Microsoft programs to give students a leg up before high school.

And the district is spending $2.3 million for a pilot program to give more than 3,000 fifth-grade students their own computers for personalized learning.

By starting with a smaller group, Wright says the district wants to shift instructional practice and eventually expand the program elsewhere.

"This is where we need to be moving as a district," said Levinson. "This is how our students learn best now."